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Zappos, ever the corporate innovator, is using a revolutionary new supply-chain tool from Kiva Systems that has reduced order fulfillment time from as long as three hours to 12 minutes flat. The key: robots in perpetual motion. See a video of them here.

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The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released a revised set of security guidelines for federal networks that takes into account evolving threats, as well as new technologies and trends such as cloud computing and bring-your-own-device. Among other things, the new agency-wide standards -- which were last updated in 2009 -- seek to bolster the government's effectiveness at addressing supply-chain risk and protecting against security breaches by insider personnel.

Retailers including Target, Rite Aid, Publix Super Markets and Walgreen are setting rules to limit "extreme couponing," which can clear shelves, tie up checkout lines and disturb supply-chain formulas. Walgreen, for example, said management can limit the number of items purchased. However, chains are being careful because they don't want to lose business.

Furniture retailer Slumberland recently took a close look at its supply-chain data using ERP business-intelligence tools. Much to its surprise, the company discovered that there were hidden costs of doing business with some of the suppliers it believed were providing the best value.

France's national police force says it has saved as much as $64 million since 2004 in licensing and IT maintenance costs by migrating away from Microsoft Windows and installing open-source software on its PCs. It is now using Ubuntu on 5,000 workstations and will switch another 10,000 this year. A Gendarmerie Nationale official said he believes it was easier to switch to Ubuntu than it would have been to update to Windows Vista.

TetherBerry, a downloadable software program, allows BlackBerry users to easily turn their handsets into a mobile modem so that they can surf from a laptop even when they're not in a Wi-Fi hot spot. Mac users are out of luck.